Student diversity in higher education has not been in more danger in the past 50 years. On June 29, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled against using race-conscious affirmative action in higher education admissions in SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC. As a first generation, Black graduate student who has guidance navigating higher education, I understand the value of race-conscious affirmative action. I am disappointed and worried for students of color currently transitioning from high school to college. Colleges and universities face a serious challenge to sustain equitable admissions practices that help students of color overcome historical and systematic barriers to entry in higher education. To fill the hole left by race-conscious affirmative action, policymakers must lead a new admissions process.
Without a new policy to protect diversity in higher education admissions, the number of students of color admitted to universities will decrease significantly. Since the 1990s, at least nine states have banned considerations of race from the college admissions process. Since then, these universities have witnessed a 42% decline of underrepresented minorities. From 1997 to 2017, California, one of the largest states to remove affirmative action from admissions, experienced a 30-40 percent drop in university enrollment of Black and Native American students.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, this pattern is very likely to occur at colleges and universities across the country. This is especially concerning for elite universities. It is incredibly difficult for students to gain acceptance into top higher education institutions without prior social capital, family legacies, or connections to alumni .
The worst result of the Supreme Court’s decision is a missed opportunity for a generation of students from marginalized communities to increase job security. For example, Black high school graduates who enter the job market are twice as likely to be unemployed as Black graduates with a Bachelor’s degree. In fact, on average, college graduates are half as likely to experience unemployment compared to high school graduates. The lack of diverse admissions can have a ripple effect, increasing the gap in economic opportunities between communities of color and white Americans.
There are a few actions our elected officials and government agencies can take to protect diversity in higher education. One proposed action is the Biden-Haris Administration enacting an executive order requiring institutions of higher education to use affirmative action with a socioeconomic standard. Wealth and class are typically massive barriers for students of color from working-class families. Class-based affirmative action would not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and could help provide more support for families from non-wealthy backgrounds. However, a large flaw in this option would be potentially excluding middle class Black, Brown, Asian, and Native American applicants who are not of low socio-economic status. The University of Michigan has criticized class-based admissions, stating they do not increase racial diversity.
A stronger policy alternative that is slowly gaining support from both political parties is the banning of legacy admissions in higher education. In 2023, the Fair College Admissions Students Act (FCASA) was introduced in both Houses of Congress. FCASA was introduced to address the issue created by legacy admissions: denying students of color higher education opportunities in favor of white, wealthy applicants. In 2014, Johns Hopkins University ended preferences in legacy admission. As a result, the percentage of first-generation students in their program increased by approximately 10 percent and the percentage of Pell-eligible students increased by about 7 percent between 2013 and 2021. Ending legacy admissions could help make the higher education admission process more equitable.
The Fair College Admissions for Students Act (FCASA) is a unique opportunity to end the discriminatory practice of legacy admissions. Parents and educators need to contact their congressional representatives through calls, email and letters urging its passage. An outpouring of public concern could spur members of Congress to acknowledge and prioritize moving FCASA to the House and Senate floor. One of the best ways to do this is to petition for ballot initiative measures in each state to prohibit using legacy admissions in higher education.